FCC: Errors led to false missile alert in Hawaii

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NEW YORK (AP) - The Federal Communications Commission says mistakes led to a false alert that warned of an incoming ballistic missile earlier this month.

Regulators said Tuesday that the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency's midnight shift supervisor mistook a drill for the real thing.

A recorded message played that included the drill language, "Exercise, exercise, exercise." However, the message also erroneously contained the text for a live ballistic missile alert, saying, "This is not a drill."

Other workers heard the message on a speakerphone. While they knew it to be a drill, the FCC says the employee who issued the false alert "claimed to believe" it was a real emergency and issued the alert.

That officer, who has not been identified, has refused to cooperate in the investigation beyond providing a written statement.